There are some new developments on Star Lords, the turn-based space 4X strategy game for the PC that is being developed by Arkavi Studios (former Neogen2 Creations). Iceberg Interactive announced that they plan to release the game (currently in alpha state) on Steam’s Early Access program in December of this year. The price will be $19.99, “cheaper than the launch price later in 2014”, says the publisher.
Star Lords has taken big strides forward since starting our co-operation with Iceberg Interactive. Especially the arranged Quality Assurance has lifted the game to a higher level which we are extremely eager to show to 4X players very soon, hoping they will want to get involved in supplying feedback to help us take the Star Lords experience to uncanny heights. -Mike Domingues (lead designer and Arkavi Studios CEO)
Here’s the first teaser trailer they’ve just released.
Regarding past pre-orders, both Iceberg and Arkavi confirmed that all the people who pre-ordered the game in the past will receive a Steam Early Access key, and “every future update, including the full version”, adds Arkavi. As for plans to get the game outside Steam, Arkavi says that “at the moment we don’t have plans to release the dev builds anywhere outside Steam’s Early Access program”. So, the game will only be available on Steam, at least for now.
I played the game back in August 2012, more than a year ago. And, for an early alpha build, I can’t say that I disliked what I saw. The game was evidently still far from finished, but surprisingly enough it was already a very playable product, with lots of rough edges still but with a lot going on already, as well. If you want to know more about the game’s state back then check out our alpha first impressions (August 2012) .
More information can be found on the game’s official website.
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“So, the game will only be available on Steam, at least for now.”
As an early supporter I do have to say this stinks. Arkavi have been able to make builds available in the past and I fail to see why they can’t continue doing so – even if the Steam version gets more updates.
I suspect it just saves time and effort for them. Pushing updates to Steam is much easier than distributing new builds manually, and the odd Steamophobe aside, the arrangement is usually more convenient for users as well.
I am a little bit disappointed to read the news here first and not on their own dev blog.
I’ve noticed there appears to be very little traffic on the Arkavi forums or dev blog. At least the “Steam only” approach will mean more frequent posts on their forums once the alpha starts.
It is good to see that there will be a public “alpha” for Star Lords. I’ve developed a healthy distrust of games that are released without public alpha/betas (or at least pre-release reviews.)
I notice that the release date has slipped (from 4Q/2013 to “later in 2014”) but that isn’t unusual. I’m anxious to see the impressions of the alpha testers on the Steam forums, and hope it is as well-received as Horizon seems to be.
Yet another space 4x…I wonder what sets this apart from, say, Endless Space?
Endless space doesn’t have any tactical combat to speak of, for one thing.
Why do gaming compagnies never do demos anymore? The video doesn’t give me enough information to buy the game. O well just have to wait for the ingame gameplay video’s
Creating a demo makes a lot of work. You have to make a lot of code changes and choose which cotent will be delivered with the demo. If you ship everything and have a simple “stop after turn 50” check in it, you can be sure it’s cracked within a hour.
They can cut content and put #ifndef DEMO around some mechanics. That’s not that many code changes (if the rest is coded properly) and can’t be cracked. Only way around is to pirate full version.
Sword of the Stars II, Legends of Pegasus, StarDrive, X Rebirth… each time I’ve pre-ordered a spacey kind of game I’m sorely dissapointed. StarDrive at least was good fun and had some awesome features but ended up being basically unfinished. Still, I’m reluctant to pay for these things now until they’re properly out and been reviewed.
Having said that, The Mandate looks really interesting =P
I pre-ordered Stardrive and I was totally disappointed with it. I’m not sure I will ever order early again.
Good point, despite the resurgence of space-based games there don’t exactly appear to be many (if any) really amazing games coming out. Just these half baked, half-finished betas.
Oh well, fingers crossed, if they release enough games a few will have to be good just through law of averages. Hopefully.
I pre-ordered Xenonauts. That deal worked out great as that game is really coming together for it’s (hopefully) December retail release, and I enjoy playing the latest beta.
Other experiences with pre-ordering lead me to say I will never do it again.
Everyone approaches pre-orders differently. Personally, I find pre-orders useful to fund interesting projects, usually indie, that really need the cash to have a chance to make something happen. Or, to make that something more interesting. This would be crowdfunding, either via Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, direct buy from the devs, etc. Example: Xenonauts. Of course, there’s always the high risk of a product not meeting the player/investor expectations, something that everybody should have in mind when pre-ordering. I see this as investments. The player is replacing the role usually done by a publisher. You’re betting on a game. Not for financial gain, but to have a chance to play a game you want.
On the other hand, I don’t really see the point on pre-ordering a game, usually AAA, when this is already finished, close to completion or when we know that the game will be released no matter what and that there’s a very high chance that the pre-ordering money will not be directly used to enhance the game in any case. Pre-orders were used in the past when games were sold as physical products, to secure you a copy. But, with the digital downloads advent, pre-ordering an almost finished product doesn’t really make much sense anymore.
This is my opinion. Of course, each person has its own reasons and motivations when pre-ordering a game. And, when something goes terribly wrong, there’s always the refund possibility, especially when the devs/publishers admit that their product really has a lot of problems. In that case the solution should be simple. Every refund request should be met, and the buyer would then re-buy the game in a later stage if/when she sees fit. Or, get a credit to buy another game in the same digital shop (any game, not just from a small selection). Of course, some people will still prefer not to ask for a refund, while others will. It really is up to us, or at least should be. And before you say that digital stores don’t accept refunds, I read that some people were successful asking for refunds in the past. It’s probably not an easy process, but I suspect it does work, especially in the most glaring cases.
I’m waiting for Adam to preview the Early Access, or to review the final game, before deciding on whether to buy Star Lords :)